Liu Bei POV
“Ah, I look forward to working with you as well.” I hurriedly replied and bowed.
Only after I bowed did I realise how weird it was to do so and nodded at her stiffly. Luckily, her eyes were still closed so she did not see it and it seems like she’s satisfied with my reply and fell asleep soon after she finished.
As I stepped out of the room, I looked back at the mess and wondered if I should clean up but decided against it as I did not want to wake her up and closed the door as I left the room.
“Hu~” I heaved a sigh of relief, feeling at ease after seeing that Yuan Zhi was well on the road to recovery. Like I said before, I did not expect that she would talk that much and she really is expectant about the future.
Un… But why do I not remember anything about Xu Shu and Liu Bei after Xinye? Is it because of my lack of knowledge?
Un~ As I pondered this, I went to the courtyard and sat on a stone seat. Well, this battle has finally come to a close. I do not know what kind of ending Yuan Zhi had heard about but the ending is an overall positive for us. We managed to hold on to Xinye and we also occupied an enemy city.
Now the issue is… What next? What do we do from here on out?
My knowledge of the Three Kingdoms is blank at this point. The only thing I knew would happen soon after this was the Battle of Red Cliffs but I had no idea what would happen between Xinye and Red Cliffs nor when it would happen. For all I know, Red Cliffs could happen tomorrow.
I do know for sure that there is 1 more important event I have to get through though, I thought as I reached behind and took out an object I could not be more familiar with, my feather fan. The feather fan which has been following me for over a year now. I flipped it around and saw that the paper which had ‘Return to owner’ written on it had almost faded away. It was clear by now that this was Zhuge Liang’s feather fan. I have confirmed this with both Sima Hui and Yuan Zhi after all.
But… The problem is, when should I go and look for her? And where is she? How much does she know? And why am I here?
All these questions have been swirling inside me the whole time I have been here and I am beginning to get really vexed about this. But I should be able to get some answers to these questions soon. I hope.
“Xuan De, you’re here huh?”
Wu. A voice came from some distance away and gave me quite the fright as I was deep in thought about my own secrets. I hurriedly kept the piece of paper and began to fan myself with the fan like a real refined scholar and looked up.
“Ah, it’s Zi Long huh?” She said relaxedly as she smiled.
“All done with military administration work?”
“Ah, I finished it all rather quickly soon after Chen Dao brought me the name list.” Zi Long said as she shrugged, “Giving honours and rewards is not a difficult thing to begin with. Besides, we won so there’s no point in being stingy with those who survived.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
It took me a few moments to understand what she meant. It was not easy for any of them to survive this battle after all and they ought to get some rewards even if they are just promotions in name.
“But the bad thing is that our troop numbers have greatly diminished so a lot of appointments are not real appointments.” Zi Long added as she smiled bitterly., “But after we get to Fan city and have a celebratory banquet, we can start drafting troops from the local populace.”
“Drafting from Fan city huh? How many troops can we gain from Fan city? Those that have not joined us of their own accord already, that is.”
“Un, I’ve been discussing this with Guan Yu these few days and it seems like the city was robbed recently by some bandits just a while ago.” Zi Long said as she thought back and rubbed her temples, “So the situation in the city is still a little unstable.”
“Bandits huh?”
“Yes,” Zi Long nodded, “It seemed to have occurred about a dozen days or so before the enemy arrived in Fan city. We’d also heard news that the city was virtually unguarded and were wondering if we ought to seize the initiative and take the city first.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Zi Long immediately sighed in irritation when she heard my question, “Well because we weren’t around back then. Nobody had the mood to think about anything then.”
“Sorry.” I honestly apologised and bowed.
“That’s fine, we got it in the end anyway.” Zi Long said casually. If I think about it, it might be more difficult to predict if we could win if we had occupied Fan city to begin with. It would have been difficult to deal with 2 pronged attacks on both Fan city and Xinye city after all.
She did not seem to be in very good shape as her hair was curlier than usual and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Zi Long, are you alright?”
“No, I’m not at all to be honest.” Zi Long said as she shook her head and rubbed her face, “There’s been a lot of work to do these few days and I’m planning to catch a nap later.”
“That would be good.” I nodded approvingly, “Ah yes, how is the staffing and manpower re-organisation going on? Are there any major changes?”
“Right now, we are sticking with the current staffing schedule but we can’t go on like this for long, that’s for sure.” Zi Long said as she turned to yawn, “I’ll have to think about this again when I go to Fan city… Haa… The battalion that Chen Dao and I lead may or may not need to be disbanded but let’s see. I’m fine with it either way. If I have to restart from scratch and retrain new troops, so be it.”
When she finished, she yawned again, “Haa… Un? Xuan De, what’s that in your hands?”
“Ah, this is… Ah.” I was about to explain that this was just an ordinary feather fan when Zi Long snatched it away and looked at it.
“A… Feather fan?” She said after looking it over.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“This fan… Looks rather ancient.” Zi Long said and then turned to look at me with pity in her eyes, “Ah, Xuan De, you know? I used to aspire to be a renowned strategist when I was young and achieve grand victories through my machinations. But later I found that I was just a little smarter than most people and this was insufficient to be a strategist of course. So Xuan De had best give up on being one.”
She had misunderstood me yes but I cannot deny that her barbs worked. I have indeed gotten used to her poisonous tongue but it would be a lie to say her words did not get to me at all. Moreover, I could not deny that what she said was the truth.
“No, I never thought about being a strategist.” I said as I shook my head and pointed at the feather fan, “Besides, there isn’t a rule that states that strategists have to have feather fans.”
I mean, look at Yuan Zhi, she does not have one.
“Un… Is this an antique? I’ve seen you carrying it with you for a while now.”
“Un, not quite.” I shook my head, “It’s really something that belongs to a friend.”
“Then are you going to return it?”
“I am, I just haven’t had the time.”
Zi Long nodded and returned it to me, “Is that friend far from here?”
“Ah… Not, I think?”
“Why the question…”
I really do not know where she is to be honest but she cannot be too far.
“She’s somewhere in Jing state, I guess.”
“That’s not too far then.” Zi Long said as she smiled stiffly, “Why don’t you go and find that friend while there’s nothing going on now? Where is that friend? Maybe you can look for information.”
“Now huh…”
Looks like this event has come faster than I thought. Perhaps I should indeed start proactively searching for her then…
“Well in that case…” I said as I looked at Zi Long, “Zi Long, I have something I need you to help me handle.”
Liu Bei POV
“Ah, I look forward to working with you as well.” I hurriedly replied and bowed.
Only after I bowed did I realise how weird it was to do so and nodded at her stiffly. Luckily, her eyes were still closed so she did not see it and it seems like she’s satisfied with my reply and fell asleep soon after she finished.
As I stepped out of the room, I looked back at the mess and wondered if I should clean up but decided against it as I did not want to wake her up and closed the door as I left the room.
“Hu~” I heaved a sigh of relief, feeling at ease after seeing that Yuan Zhi was well on the road to recovery. Like I said before, I did not expect that she would talk that much and she really is expectant about the future.
Un… But why do I not remember anything about Xu Shu and Liu Bei after Xinye? Is it because of my lack of knowledge?
Un~ As I pondered this, I went to the courtyard and sat on a stone seat. Well, this battle has finally come to a close. I do not know what kind of ending Yuan Zhi had heard about but the ending is an overall positive for us. We managed to hold on to Xinye and we also occupied an enemy city.
Now the issue is… What next? What do we do from here on out?
My knowledge of the Three Kingdoms is blank at this point. The only thing I knew would happen soon after this was the Battle of Red Cliffs but I had no idea what would happen between Xinye and Red Cliffs nor when it would happen. For all I know, Red Cliffs could happen tomorrow.
I do know for sure that there is 1 more important event I have to get through though, I thought as I reached behind and took out an object I could not be more familiar with, my feather fan. The feather fan which has been following me for over a year now. I flipped it around and saw that the paper which had ‘Return to owner’ written on it had almost faded away. It was clear by now that this was Zhuge Liang’s feather fan. I have confirmed this with both Sima Hui and Yuan Zhi after all.
But… The problem is, when should I go and look for her? And where is she? How much does she know? And why am I here?
All these questions have been swirling inside me the whole time I have been here and I am beginning to get really vexed about this. But I should be able to get some answers to these questions soon. I hope.
“Xuan De, you’re here huh?”
Wu. A voice came from some distance away and gave me quite the fright as I was deep in thought about my own secrets. I hurriedly kept the piece of paper and began to fan myself with the fan like a real refined scholar and looked up.
“Ah, it’s Zi Long huh?” She said relaxedly as she smiled.
“All done with military administration work?”
“Ah, I finished it all rather quickly soon after Chen Dao brought me the name list.” Zi Long said as she shrugged, “Giving honours and rewards is not a difficult thing to begin with. Besides, we won so there’s no point in being stingy with those who survived.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
It took me a few moments to understand what she meant. It was not easy for any of them to survive this battle after all and they ought to get some rewards even if they are just promotions in name.
“But the bad thing is that our troop numbers have greatly diminished so a lot of appointments are not real appointments.” Zi Long added as she smiled bitterly., “But after we get to Fan city and have a celebratory banquet, we can start drafting troops from the local populace.”
“Drafting from Fan city huh? How many troops can we gain from Fan city? Those that have not joined us of their own accord already, that is.”
“Un, I’ve been discussing this with Guan Yu these few days and it seems like the city was robbed recently by some bandits just a while ago.” Zi Long said as she thought back and rubbed her temples, “So the situation in the city is still a little unstable.”
“Bandits huh?”
“Yes,” Zi Long nodded, “It seemed to have occurred about a dozen days or so before the enemy arrived in Fan city. We’d also heard news that the city was virtually unguarded and were wondering if we ought to seize the initiative and take the city first.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Zi Long immediately sighed in irritation when she heard my question, “Well because we weren’t around back then. Nobody had the mood to think about anything then.”
“Sorry.” I honestly apologised and bowed.
“That’s fine, we got it in the end anyway.” Zi Long said casually. If I think about it, it might be more difficult to predict if we could win if we had occupied Fan city to begin with. It would have been difficult to deal with 2 pronged attacks on both Fan city and Xinye city after all.
She did not seem to be in very good shape as her hair was curlier than usual and there were dark circles under her eyes.
“Zi Long, are you alright?”
“No, I’m not at all to be honest.” Zi Long said as she shook her head and rubbed her face, “There’s been a lot of work to do these few days and I’m planning to catch a nap later.”
“That would be good.” I nodded approvingly, “Ah yes, how is the staffing and manpower re-organisation going on? Are there any major changes?”
“Right now, we are sticking with the current staffing schedule but we can’t go on like this for long, that’s for sure.” Zi Long said as she turned to yawn, “I’ll have to think about this again when I go to Fan city… Haa… The battalion that Chen Dao and I lead may or may not need to be disbanded but let’s see. I’m fine with it either way. If I have to restart from scratch and retrain new troops, so be it.”
When she finished, she yawned again, “Haa… Un? Xuan De, what’s that in your hands?”
“Ah, this is… Ah.” I was about to explain that this was just an ordinary feather fan when Zi Long snatched it away and looked at it.
“A… Feather fan?” She said after looking it over.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“This fan… Looks rather ancient.” Zi Long said and then turned to look at me with pity in her eyes, “Ah, Xuan De, you know? I used to aspire to be a renowned strategist when I was young and achieve grand victories through my machinations. But later I found that I was just a little smarter than most people and this was insufficient to be a strategist of course. So Xuan De had best give up on being one.”
She had misunderstood me yes but I cannot deny that her barbs worked. I have indeed gotten used to her poisonous tongue but it would be a lie to say her words did not get to me at all. Moreover, I could not deny that what she said was the truth.
“No, I never thought about being a strategist.” I said as I shook my head and pointed at the feather fan, “Besides, there isn’t a rule that states that strategists have to have feather fans.”
I mean, look at Yuan Zhi, she does not have one.
“Un… Is this an antique? I’ve seen you carrying it with you for a while now.”
“Un, not quite.” I shook my head, “It’s really something that belongs to a friend.”
“Then are you going to return it?”
“I am, I just haven’t had the time.”
Zi Long nodded and returned it to me, “Is that friend far from here?”
“Ah… Not, I think?”
“Why the question…”
I really do not know where she is to be honest but she cannot be too far.
“She’s somewhere in Jing state, I guess.”
“That’s not too far then.” Zi Long said as she smiled stiffly, “Why don’t you go and find that friend while there’s nothing going on now? Where is that friend? Maybe you can look for information.”
“Now huh…”
Looks like this event has come faster than I thought. Perhaps I should indeed start proactively searching for her then…
“Well in that case…” I said as I looked at Zi Long, “Zi Long, I have something I need you to help me handle.”
